Sunday 7 December 2014

Indonesia, Bali


This December holidays finally brought me to the island of Bali. Whoopiee!! I'm deliriously happy to have time off from work. Seriously need the break and it's time to get down and be closely acquainted with "the island of gods". Yeay!

Bali is quite near to Singapore, only 2.5 hrs away by plane. But I'm still in Southeast Asia so it does feel a bit like home, I'm feeling lucky right now because I understand a bit of the Indonesian language so Bali is a breeze.

Close-up on Bali, it's 8 times larger than Singapore.























Photo taken from: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/indonesia/bali/

We reached Ngurai Rai International Airport around 6.30 am. The airport was squeaky clean and we passed through the immigration counters pretty fast. 

Only opened in October 2013 prior to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, the airport got its name after Gusti Ngurah Rai, a national war hero. Gusti Ngurah Rai died in 1946 while commanding an army against the Dutch during the Indonesian War of Independence. Well, a bit of historic details here.





















Photo taken from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bali_Indonesia_Ubud_Monkey_Forest_welcome_sign.JPG

And we're off to Ubud, the home of the Monkey Forest and the cultural centre of Bali. Our hotel is very near to this sanctuary. Here's how the surrounding area looks like from our hotel.



















My first impression of the Balinese? They're really friendly, soft spoken and humble. We were given a mint drink when we reached our hotel, together with a wet towel that smelled of frangipani. It was so sweet-smelling and refreshing; I simply loved the welcoming gestures of the hotel staffs. 





















This was my first meal in Bali. I was pretty hungry so I had a heavy breakfast. I loved the fruit platter - there's papaya, snake fruit, watermelon, banana, pineapple, rambutan, dragon fruit, jackfruit and passion fruit (right in the middle). I ate this platter every morning of my stay in Bali.

We didn't do much on our first day. Just walking along the streets and lazing around. Tune in to my next post.

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